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elephants: my best animal

Picture yourself innocently driving along a bumpy dirt road, peering out the windows at the scenery, and suddenly your driver says, “Look, there’s an elephant crossing the road up ahead!” I think that you too would have gasped “OH!” ridiculously loud with excitement and joy.

And perhaps you too would have been mocked in Luganda by those listening.

But seriously guys – it was SO COOL!

And every elephant thereafter was equally awesome.

Welcome to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

I loved the elephants so so much. I loved their trunks. I loved their ears. I loved their slow lumbering gait. I loved the babies. I loved spotting them across the savannah. I loved everything about them. They were one of my favorite things to see. Or as my favorite Ugandan children say, “elephants are my best animal.”

We saw more elephants the next morning when we headed out for our game drive. It was kind of perfect – they were just a ways off the road, framed by trees and morning mist.

Good Morning Elephants!

If you were driving along and you saw a whole bush shaking, you knew there was an elephant eating a little snack.

If I were you, I would turn off the sound when watching this video of the elephants. Or if you want to hear our guide, that is cool too. I was trying out a new iPad app. And honestly this video isn’t anything to write home about, but elephants are cool, so you should probably still watch it..

I was kind of an expert at spotting elephants. Which sounds so silly because they are huge. But they also are really slow moving and blend in quite a bit to the landscape. Are you a rock in the distance? A tree? Or an elephant? I’m guessing my incredible skill is primarily due to my elephant spotting practice drills prior to heading to Africa.

We also saw elephants across the Kazinga Channel while we were crabbily drinking tea. Nothing remedies a bad mood like a good elephant sighting!

And as luck would have it, we soon went on a boat ride that took us right past those elephants we’d seen from afar. It was perfect. They were incredible.

On the ride back to the lodge (which I will be giving you a tour of next time) I said to my sister, “I just want to see one more elephant. Maybe standing close to the side of the road looking at us.”